Embodiments of the invention pertain to cooling systems for computer systems. More particularly, embodiments of the invention pertain to throttling a component of a computer system based on a criterion.
The movement of electrons within the electrical components of a computer system causes a great deal of heat to be generated. Unless the heat is dissipated, it will accumulate, reducing system reliability or causing catastrophic damage to the system. Such damage may include the warping of the electrical components and possible fire hazards.
Currently, thermal sensors are attached to a die to read the actual temperature of the die hot spots. When the hot spot temperatures are exceeded on a particular die, that die reduces its temperature independently of the other die using some form of reduction in work per unit time, also called throttling. This throttling prevents a die from reaching its maximum working temperature and damaging the system. Throttling may be performed by clock gating and clock frequency reduction.
When throttling by clock frequency reduction, additional heat reduction may be possible by proportionally reducing the operating voltage of the die to a level that still meets timing requirements of the die when operating at that reduced frequency. A method such as this may also be referred to as performance scaling.
The throttling may be triggered if the thermal sensors read a throttling threshold temperature up to some maximum tolerable temperature. To ensure safety, this maximum temperature may be set well below a temperature that causes actual catastrophic damage.
Throttling and performance scaling will reduce the amount of work performed by the die to a level below its peak potential. This action is necessary to keep the die operating at a temperature within its specified limits when adversely influenced by an elevated temperature of the environment in which it is operating.
Usually, different components in a system, such as the central unit and the graphics memory and controller hub (GMCH), may share a cooling system for a more efficient design to the computer system. However, these different components often have different cooling needs.